Macedonian tents

[Ade G]

Following on from my question about Assyrian camps [nobody knew anything :-) ] may I ask if anyone knows what shape Macedonian campaign tents were?

[Justin Swanton]

Wedge-shaped. Definitely wedge-shaped. 

(in-house joke that refers to a certain cavalry formation)

[Duncan Head]

Among the Macedonians and among the Greeks, Alexander's court of justice was plain and simple; but among the barbarians, in order to strike them with the greater awe, it was most splendid and imperial. In Bactria, Hyrcania, and India when he heard causes, the apparatus and formality of his court were as follows. The pavilion was large enough to contain a hundred tables; and was supported by fifty pillars of gold: and the canopy was adorned with various gold ornaments. Stationed round the pavilion within were, first, five hundred Persian bodyguards [melophoroi], dressed in purple and white uniforms: and next to those an equal number of archers in different uniforms, yellow, blue, and scarlet. Before those stood five hundred Macedonians, with silver shields, the tallest men that could be picked out. In the middle of the pavilion was a golden throne, on which the monarch sat to hear causes: attended on either side by his guards. Round the pavilion on the outside were ranged a number of elephants, and a thousand Macedonians in Macedonian costumes. Behind those were five hundred Susians in purple uniforms: and the whole was surrounded with ten thousand Persians, distinguished for their appearance, and size, and dressed in the Persian manner, with scimitars at their sides. Such was the court of Alexander among the barbarians.

Other tents may have been smaller 

[Tim]

Good luck fitting that on a 40mmx40mm base in 15mm scale...

[RichT]

Following on from my question about Assyrian camps [nobody knew anything :-) ] may I ask if anyone knows what shape Macedonian campaign tents were?

Short answer - no.

Longer answer - the place to look is David Karunanithy's The Macedonian War Machine which has a section (pp. 195-6) on soldier's tents -  though unfortunately he concludes that almost nothing is known about them. There are references to tent pegs, poles, ropes and fly sheets, as you would expect, but nothing on the shape.

The best hints might be some evidence that two-man tents were used - the dummy camp built by Eumenes had camp fires 20 cubits, about 9 metres, apart (Diod 19.38.3) which gives an approximate size, and Alexander's super-sized camp on the Hyphasis had "huts each containing two beds five cubits long" (Diod 17.95.2)- which might imply that two man tents were usual. If so then the tents were probably ridge tents, the familiar standard shape of two man tents today, rectangular in plan and triangular in section. Bottom line - make them any shape you like and defy anyone to prove you wrong.

[Mick Hession]

Following on from my question about Assyrian camps [nobody knew anything :-) ]

I didn't spot that (the only earlier query I can see relates to Sassanid camps, of which I know nothing) but there's a good illustration of an Assyrian tent in WRG's Armies of the Ancient Near East IIRC. In 15mm I'd say Baueda's Bedouin tents would be close.

Cheers
Mick

   

[willb]

Following on from my question about Assyrian camps [nobody knew anything :-) ]

I didn't spot that (the only earlier query I can see relates to Sassanid camps, of which I know nothing) but there's a good illustration of an Assyrian tent in WRG's Armies of the Ancient Near East IIRC. In 15mm I'd say Baueda's Bedouin tents would be close.

Cheers
Mick

Page 202.  Bedouin tents for officers and soldiers.   Enclosed tent with opening in roof to let in light for the king.

[Ade G]

Thank you very much for sharing

[Ade G]

Good luck fitting that on a 40mmx40mm base in 15mm scale...

I play ADLG so a nice 120mm x 180mm camp ;-)

[Ade G]

Following on from my question about Assyrian camps [nobody knew anything :-) ]

I didn't spot that (the only earlier query I can see relates to Sassanid camps, of which I know nothing) but there's a good illustration of an Assyrian tent in WRG's Armies of the Ancient Near East IIRC. In 15mm I'd say Baueda's Bedouin tents would be close.

Cheers
Mick

Quite right Mick it was Sassanids